Copycat (PG-13) Chapter 6

[francis]

Next part of the story. Thank you for your kind reviews!
Disclaimers still apply.

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April 1992

Norman Caruthers had had a long day.

He thought that a job back home would be a simple thing after fighting in a war and college, but it wasn’t working out that way.

He had joined the army out of high school and after spending a tour in Iraq he had come and gone to college on the G.I bill. He landed a job at the County Vital Records office and found himself back at the bottom of the corporate ladder, struggling to get off the bottom rung. Again.

He volunteered to stay late and do data entry to bring the new computer system up to speed. A data dump would take care of most of the records, but there were some old files that had to be entered manually. One thing the army had taught him was that there was no better way to learn how a system worked than by doing all the jobs at least once. Tonight had been his introduction into data entry.

Eleven o’clock was hardly late in L.A., but when he emerged from the office with his tie still neatly knotted and his jacket crisp, he at least gave the illusion of eager competence. He walked across the street to a parking garage where his car was waiting.

He never got there.

“Hi there.”

The sultry voice of the woman was like honey. Warm and golden, it filled his senses and drew him like a magnet, but he was just too tired right now.

“Hello,” he drawled, letting his attraction shine through his weariness -- no harm in that. “Can I help you?“

“I’m thirsty. Wanna buy a lady a drink? I‘m not from around here and I‘ve been looking for a friendly face. Yours is nice.”

Thoughts of responsibilities elsewhere faded for a moment, but only for a moment. She looked really nice and really, really hot. If only he wasn‘t so tired. “Look, I am really, really sorry. Unbelievably sorry, but I’ve been working for almost twenty hours straight and as much as I’d love to stay and get to know you better, I just can’t. Trust me, I wouldn’t be much fun.“

“Yvette,“ she smiled with a tinge of regret in her voice, but neither the smile or the regret were reflected in her lovely, almond-shaped eyes.

“I’m not a pro if that’s what you are thinking. I’m not selling anything.” she said. “I am hungry though.”

He reached for his wallet, sighing inwardly. Oh, man. There went his disposable income again. “I don’t have much, Yvette, but if you need something to eat, there is a fast food place around the corner.”

“Not what I had in mind,” she said.

Her eyes silvered, her fangs descended and she was on him so fast the twenty dollar bill he had been holding fluttered free. There was a sharp pain in his neck as she began to drain his life and his energy away. Drawing on rapidly dwindling reserves, he somehow got free of her, feeling something warm and wet soaking his shirt. He staggered toward where his car waited but Yvette caught up with him seconds later. She was much stronger than he was. He had been good at hand to hand combat - at least good enough to keep him alive - until she attacked him again. This time he responded with her own tactics, sinking his teeth into her jaw as she leaned over him. Howling in pain, she released him and he lurched into an alley, thinking that she would probably come back. He never knew if she did or not as his heart continued to pump his blood out. He slid against the cold stone wall as his consciousness fell away.

What was she doing? Just like some kind of vam…

His heart stopped.

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Mick stood up and paced.

“No, I didn’t turn him. He was a rogue, almost feral, left alone by his sire. He tried to live by hunting and killing homeless people, but he was starting to draw attention to himself and to us. In San Francisco he had a contact at the hospital who gave him blood bags, so it wasn’t so hard to convince him to go back to that. He couldn’t afford freshies and frankly didn’t have enough control to let him near them. He got a job at the morgue with help from Guillermo. A year later, he should have been able to get by on his own and I asked him to move out and start something new but he just didn‘t want to.”

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It was nearly dawn when he opened his eyes. He got up and walked to his car, feeling in his pocket for keys and not finding any. Swell. Well, there were always more ways to get from point A to point B than the usual methods. He hotwired his own car and drove home.

There were no wounds in his neck, but his clothes were stiff with dried blood. He would have wondered more about that but he was feeling a bit queasy.

Inside his apartment, he went straight for the fridge. Famished, he downed the rest of the orange juice directly from the carton but it must have gone bad. He tried the milk next but it had no taste at all. Must have been some power outage. The container of yogurt almost gagged him.

A soft knock at his door told him that his neighbor Shauna had heard him come in.

“Norman! What happened?”

“I was mugged by a woman,” he said. “I think she was crazy – she bit me! Bit her back, though.”

“Poor baby,” she said, wrapping her arms around him, “let‘s get you cleaned up.”

Fetching towels and medical items from the bathroom, she asked where he was bleeding.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t hurt anywhere.”

“All that blood has to come from somewhere. Must have been hers. The fact that you are standing here talking to me is a minor miracle. Go take a shower. I will be right outside. You seem a bit confused, do you suppose you could have a concussion? You should go to the police.”

By this time Norman had gotten a whiff of Shauna, and he liked what he smelled.

“Are you wearing some new perfume?“ he asked, leaning closer.

“No. What is this? For almost a year I’ve been hoping one day you’d finally recognize the fact that I’m a woman so now, after being attacked and nearly bleeding to death, you find me irresistible? You, my friend are in shock. Shower now!” she said, then her eyes widened with fear as she looked into silver eyes and saw points on his incisors. His eyes changed back to their tawny brown and his fangs retracted.

“Norman, what is going on here?” She couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t kidding. She remembered one of the hospital lab technicians a few years back insisting vampires were real. Everybody laughed at him, and he was killed in an accident a few days later.

She told Norman about it and he took it in.

“So that is what she was.” He lightly touched the pointed ends of his incisors in shock. “No, this can’t be real… I’m really sorry to do this, Shauna, but I need blood and you are the only source of it here.“ He reached for the pretty petite blonde friend.

“Wait! I’m a surgical nurse. I can get you blood. Not just for a meal but I can help you make connections of your own. Norman, stop. We will figure this out together.” She backed up to the door and vanished as fast as she could.

Norman was ravenously hungry, but he was no fool. Shauna had connections that could deliver a continuous supply of what he needed to survive now. He had no idea how to get by without her help. Wasn’t there some kind of handbook for new vampires? What would happen when the sun came up? Would he turn to dust if he didn’t find a dark cellar until then?

Less than an hour later, Norman had proof that he had, at least for now, made the right decision. Shauna showed up with a cooler with five bags of blood. A few days later, she came home from work with some smaller tubes of blood she had been instructed to dispose of and more bags. He ate very well.

In spite of the convenience of Shauna’s continuous access to blood, he soon discovered how much he enjoyed the hunt and kill. The thrill it presented was more exciting than anything in the pale, anemic life Yvette had rescued him from. He hoped one day to encounter his sire again so that he could thank her.

He wouldn’t have been able to survive without Shauna’s assistance, though. She helped him land a job in the hospital morgue – he could even sleep there - but he found himself occasionally looking forward to the day when she would no longer be useful. Besides, she was part of his old life and their association was becoming tedious. In a month or so, when he didn’t need her any more maybe she would have an accident. He smiled at the thought.

When it came down to it, though, he found that he didn’t want to harm her. She was pinned against the wall of his apartment but he couldn’t kill her. He told her that he had to leave. He could not stay any longer and said that if she told anyone about him, she would be killed.

She quit her job and was gone a day later.

He moved on as well.

He’d always wanted to live in L.A…

[Kara]

Ah. Good to know it wasn't Mick who sired him. I can only assume that Mick caught him draining someone & took him under his wing but turned him out after he refused to leave? Must be.

Thanks for this update ladies.

[MickLifeCrisis]

It's great watching the story unfold!

Looking forward to more!

[allegrita]

Hmmmm... Yvette is not a vamp you'd want to meet in a dark alley. (Or parking garage.) It seems that Norm had some self control, but he doesn't really seem to have much feeling for humans. I'm glad that when it came right down to it, he couldn't kill Shauna, but his reaction to humans seems very calculating and not at all warm. Maybe that's because he was abandoned...?

I'm looking forward to finding out what happened to make him hate Mick so much. Did he just feel abandoned?!

[aolver]

Thank you. I'm really liking this.

[francis]

Hey, Jen, it seems they like it!

[maggatha3]

Francis, Jen, is it THAT obvious that we like it?...

[jen]

They like it! They really like it!!

I'm having a Sally Field moment here...

This was a fabulous experience!

[darkstarrising]

Agree with Alle about not wanting to meet Yvette in a dark alley or anywhere else for that matter....

You've got me intrigued though. If Yvette turned Norm, then why does he hold Mick responsible for all his problems...I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[maggatha3]

Well, this vamp seems not to hold a grunge against his sire ,but mostly about a friend vamp (Mick) who abandoned him when he fell for a woman...Beth?

[redwinter101]

So now we know a little bit about Norm's backstory - I'll join everyone else in wondering how he came to hate Mick so much.

Red

[cassysj]

I'm curious about why he hates Mick so much. Going off to read more.

[nutmegger911]

Ooh! I'm liking this. I'm really liking Shauna, and hope she will show up again

Interesting backstory on Norman. Did Yvette know she turned him or did she simply drink and run.

[francis]

I think it was a drink and run, but I guess Norman would like to imagine otherwise. It's really a trauma if you realize your parent doesn't love you.

[jen]

That is just what this story needed! More victims!

You wrote this up very, very well, Francis but I think the victim list so far is

Mick
Beth
Helen Arnaugh
Reginald Leesome
and now Norman and Shauna, too

And I'm sure I have forgotten some others